Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Death of the Family - Batman Arc

I"m a huge Batman fan... and even moreso, a HUGE Joker fan.

For anyone looking to get into Batman in the New 52, my first recommendation has always been to pick up the main Batman series written by Scott Snyder. His first story arc, The Court of the Owls, was excellent (Night of the Owls Vol 1. and Night of the Owls Vol. 2) and his second big arc has been "Death of the Family"

Those familiar with Bat-History will recognize this as similar to the "A Death in the Family" arc from the late 80s. The throwbacks to bat-history don't stop there. This story arc (the main Batman title is still written by Scott Snyder, but the other tie-in issues are being handled by their respective creative teams - Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Nightwing, Suicide Squad and Teen Titans) contains a large number of throwbacks to important moments in the history of Batman.

Being a fan of the Joker, my favorites might be the throwbacks to The Killing Joke (my favorite Joker story so far)...

The story is gripping, and as always, the Joker has a "lesson" to teach Batman. As much as they sometimes seem like an attempt to just sucker you into buying more books, the tie-ins from other series to this one are quite excellent and in my opinion, quite important to the story.

I can't say enough good things about this story arc/event, it's been amazing, and as a Joker fan, I've loved every minute of it. It's the first time in a long time I remember eagerly looking forward to each week's comics to get the next part of the story!

Here's the link to the first issue of Batman that's part of this arc (Batman Issue #13)